“Music has not just opened doors for me professionally,” says Felix, “it has opened my mind to a whole world of possibilities.”

Under programmes run by the Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela (Fesnojiv), Venezuela’s pioneering music education network commonly known as “El Sistema”, all children in Guarenas have access to a free education in classical music. Demand for the scheme from the local people seems insatiable; there are currently 700 students, and another 600 are on the waiting list.

“I practise for three or four hours when I get home every day, between finishing school and coming here,” he says. “At first, my friends didn’t understand, but now lots of them have started coming, too.”